Higher education in Bihar, UP disappointing: Meira Kumar

Darbhanga (Bihar), Jul 22 (PTI): The condition of higher education in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and some other states is "disappointing", Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar said today and stressed on establishing institutional machinery to ensure that it was relevant with changing times.

"The present condition of higher education is disappointing in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Jharkhand," she told the fifth annual convocation of Lalit Narayan Mishra University here.

Kumar lamented that the number of illiterates in India was maximum in the world.

"There is a big gap between literate and the well-to-do in urban areas and illiterate and deprived sections in villages. Similarly, there has been a gap between male and female literacy rate and also between states." She emphasised on greater investment in education to bridge the gaps.

There is an urgent need to pay attention to this area and in establishing an institutional machinery to ensure that education imparted was relevant with changing times, Kumar, who is Lok Sabha member from Sasaram in Bihar, said.

"This is needed to make higher education contextual and useful," she said and stressed that universities have provision for time bound review and reorganisation of syllabus, give more weightage to internal assessment and create better environment for teachers.